An apple a day... the faulty rhetoric of Yabloko and the faux outrage of the 'international community'

During a recent visit to Germany, blame for the murder of the Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, was laid at the feet of Vladimir Putin by a crowd of 2000 protesters, one of whom shouted "murderer!" as Mr Putin got out of his limousine.

Later Mr Putin publicly acknowledged her death for the first time during a joint press conference with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. During the press conference, he stated that although Ms Politkovskaya was a journalist known to be critical of the authorities in Russia, her influence on political life in Russia was insubstantial. He also promised that the murder, which he described as a "dreadful and unacceptable crime" will be fully investigated and the perpetrators apprehended. During talks with Mr Putin, Angela Merkin is reported to have raised the concerns of the mythical 'international community' with regard to the possibility of state involvement in the murder.

The murder of Ms. Politkovskaya is without doubt a cause for concern, as would be any suggestion of state intimidation of the media. However, the assumption that the murder was carried out on the orders of Mr Putin is either the product of simplistic thinking or ulterior motives. As with any significant event of this type, the first question any sane person should ask is 'cui bono'?

Who benefits? Certainly not Vladimir Putin, who is - without any real evidence - being accused of using murder to suppress media freedoms. If the Russian state had wanted to do away with a vocal opponent, their demise would have been made to look like an accident. Whoever perpetrated this murder wanted it to be clearly seen as an execution - in order to once more make the Putin administration the focus of the faux righteous indignation and moral outrage so beloved of those who regularly instigate or perpetrate atrocities all over the world. Those who benefit from this murder are those who want to demonise and punish the current Russian administration for their strident economic nationalism and for their attempts to review the flawed privatisations of the Yeltsin era.

When asked for comment about the murder, Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the opposition Yabloko party stated that "Russia is becoming an authoritarian and corrupt country". The reality is that Russia is less corrupt now than it was when Yeltsin was busy selling off the Russian family silver to a small number of ultra-greedy oligarchs.

He went on to say that "This killing opens a new phase when the physical elimination of political opponents becomes possible". He has obviously had his eyes closed while the oligarchs and other assorted criminals were busy ordering hits on each other in their drive to establish exclusive control over the natural resources that rightly belong to all of the Russian people.

While I do not for one minute believe that the administration of Vladimir Putin is blameless or free from mistakes, I am sickened by the hypocritical critique of those who point fingers at Russia for their actions in Chechnya while simultaneously committing far greater atrocities in the Middle East, or at least tacitly supporting them.

I also find it ironic that the leader of a party that espouses the kind of liberal economic policies that allowed Yeltsin to divest the Russian state of its natural resources and large industries has the audacity to bemoan the increasing corruption in the country. Mr Yavlinsky believes that these fundamentally corrupt privatisations should be deemed legal and should not be open to administrative review. It is clear from this that Mr Yavlinsky does not represent the interests of the Russian populace at large, but is far more interested in protecting the ill-gotten assets of a small clique of kleptocrats.

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Dalits seeking dignity

According to a report by the BBC, low-caste Hindus - otherwise known as Dalits, are converting to other religions, particularly Buddhism and Christianity. The Dalits, who number 167 million people and represent over 16% of the population of India, are considered to be the lowest-ranking members of Hindu society - and are limited to performing only the most absolutely menial of jobs. They are not even the lowest level of the obnoxious caste system, they are considered to be outside of and beneath it.

Even if Hinduism is not alone amongst religions in promoting racist or supremacist ideologies, the ugly, institutionalised racism that the caste system represents is probably the most clear-cut example of discrimination whose basis lies in religious belief. It is highly ironic that a religion which markets itself to western cultures as fluffy, huggy, tolerant and inclusive is in fact quite the opposite.

While India may be one of the world's fastest growing economies, a social order based on highly institutionalised discrimination can only ensure that the largely undeserving Brahmin caste will reap the benefits. Thankfully, the Dalits, who have long been an oppressed people, have also grown in political influence, particularly in northern India and steps are being taken to rid Indian society of this divisive and discriminatory concept.

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A word in your $hell...like...

The Irish Daily Mail, in their editorial comment from yesterday's edition, rails against the left-wing agitators who are attempting to stoke a conflict so they can revive a long-discredited ideology. The conflict in question is the long-standing protest over the Shell Corrib pipeline.

Precisely which long-discredited ideology the Daily Mail has in mind is left unsaid, but through the references later in the piece where the protesters are described as dreamers who seek to turn back the tide of internationalisation and global trade. Admittedly, there are two distinct threads to the protests against the pipeline and the tendency has been for the two to become intertwined. The first thread of the protests objects to the pipeline route on the grounds of public safety. The second objection is broader and encompasses the economics of the project, and in particular the lack of benefit to the Irish people - the beneficiaries will be Norway's Statoil - who own a 36.5% stake, Shell - who own a 45% stake and Marathon - who own the remaining 18.5%. That the government of Ireland has been selling off the national resources at bargain-basement prices is evident, when even the likes of Mike Cunningham, the former director of Statoil Exploration (Ireland) stated that "No other country in the world has given such favourable terms as Ireland."

The Irish media have largely been subservient to the corporate cause, liberally sprinkling their editorial comment with anonymous allegations claiming that protesters are only interested in violence and destruction.

For instance the Sunday Independent of July 17th, 2005 claimed that:

Paramilitary style death threats have been made against workers on Shell's controversial Corrib gas pipeline project in Co Mayo.

The article in the Sunday Independent went on to claim that:

Two Scottish workers employed by the Norwegian-owned Statoil corporation were approached by a gang of men outside a pub in Belmullet and told they would be shot "in the back of the head".

What the Sunday Independent article did not make clear in that article, or in any article on the subject since then, is that their owner, Tony O'Reilly, is also part-owner of an Irish exploration company, Providence Resources, in which he holds a 45 per cent stake. Through this company he is the part-owner, along with Exxon-Mobil, of oil and gas fields off the coast of County Clare.

He has even admitted that he (mis)used his position as a "media mogul" to access the most lucrative exploration licenses, when in September 1983, he told Forbes magazine that “Since I own 35 per cent of the newspapers in Ireland I have close contact with the politicians. I got the blocks he wanted". The "he" referred to in the statement is the geologist working for the company.

So the Sunday Independent can hardly claim to be neutral on this issue - leaving aside their obvious attachment to neo-liberal economic principles. Whether the The Irish Daily Mail and their sister paper, the Sunday Mail, have any fiscal interest in the project is open to question, but their religious belief in the legalised pillage that goes by the name of globalisation - and the attendant repressive legislation to stiffle protest most certainly is not.

Going back to the Irish Daily Mail editorial, the ideology to which they refer - which is best expressed as economic nationalism - is hardly long-discredited, despite how much their wags might like to think it is. It is the reason why Iraq was invaded (forget the toppling a repressive regime excuse - the coalition of the willing tolerate far more repressive regimes elsewhere). It is the reason why Iran is ripe for invasion. It is the reason why Hugo Chavez is being demonised. It is the underlying motive for the constant attacks on the administration of Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that his alleged "crimes" pale in comparison to those of the current U.S. administration.

This ideology is a straightforward concept that states that the exploitation of the natural resources of a country should directly benefit all the people of that country and not just line the pockets of a few vested interests, and it is rapidly gaining ground. Globalisation - the legalised and unhindered plundering of the assets of countries and the exploitation of their peoples by corporations - is, on the other hand, becoming increasingly unpopular - despite how many times the Daily Mail stamp their collective feet in opposition.

Despite the attempts by the likes of the Daily Mail to smear all opposition as "left wing", opposition to the dominance of corporations is far from exclusively left-wing territory, as anyone who reads the writings of the likes of Paul Craig Roberts - a former advisor to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan will conclude.

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Coffee & Cigarettes

Non fumer!

It seems that France has decided to follow the example set by Ireland in setting a date for a public smoking ban. From next February, smoking will be banned in airports, railway stations, schools, universities and offices throughout France. However, the traditional French breakfast of coffee and cigarettes will survive for a further year, as smoking in bars, restaurants and clubs will be banned from February 2008. In order to set an example, the tobacco kiosk in the parliament will cease selling cigarettes from the end of this year, according to health minister Xavier Bertrand, quoted in Le Journal du Dimanche. Quite how a public smoking ban will go down in a country where chain-smoking took on an air of cool, and whose citizenry have a healthy disrespect for imposed rules, is anybody's guess.

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Fancy a game of tag?

The BBC have reported that scientists working for a new research centre at University College London are busy developing the prototypes of an orwellian system that will represent yet another encroachment on the civil liberties of otherwise law-abiding citizens. Following on from the ludicrous frenzy stirred up by the patently fake 'liquid explosives plot', the device, an electronic tag, will be issued to passengers at check-in and will be used to “track the movement patterns of passengers deemed to be suspicious and prevent them from entering restricted areas”. The system will go through trials at Debrecen airport in Hungary and if successful it could be coming to an airport near you within two years.

Going by the statements of the designers in the BBC article cited above, this device will be fixed to the passenger in such a way as to be difficult to remove. In order to soften the blow to civil liberties this development represents, the scientists claim that “It could also aid airports by helping evacuation in case of a fire, rapidly locating children, and finding passengers who are late to arrive at the gate”. With such a soft and fluffy pedigree, presumably it will also help find lost puppies and retrieve kittens caught up trees.

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Criminalising speech

I believe it is counter-productive and contrary to basic human rights to seek to criminalise any form of speech, or at least any form of speech that does not directly incite violence against others. So I approach the decision of the French parliament to criminalise denial of the Turkish genocide against the Armenians with more than a little trepidation. Although I have no doubts that a genocide took place, I simply don't see how society benefits by forcing everyone to express just that one accepted viewpoint and no other.

For a start, using the law as a gag acts as an effective barrier to research by anyone seeking to clarify the circumstances and numbers involved or to ascertain for themselves the veracity of any claims made. It may stop people saying things, but it won't stop people thinking them. Indeed, it may have opposite effect to that intended.

The really worrying implication of this law is that it sets a precedent where any claim can be imbued with the status of 'fact', considered incontrovertible and beyond question - by the simple waving of a legislative wand.

Of course this may be a simple ruse to delay the entry of Turkey into the EU – but there are simpler ways of making opposition known – without compromising the right to free speech. For the record, I count myself amongst those who believe that Turkey does not belong in the EU – mainly because as a state they have some pretty ugly bedfellows amongst their allies.

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Hey Big Spender

Titled using a turn of phrase that would put the 1980's "Loadsamoney" culture in the UK to shame, the Irish newspaper "The Sunday Business Post" is organising a property exhibition in Dublin this month. The exhibition, quaintly called "Hey Big Spender" will no doubt be full of sharp-eyed wolves waiting to empty the wallets of those who have hit it big with the payouts on their state-sponsored investment accounts (otherwise known as SSIAs).

If the past is anything to go by, most of the exhibitors will, no doubt, be selling 'investment opportunities' in properties abroad... of course they are abroad, because no property in Ireland could be remotely considered an investment. The hyper-inflated Irish property market – where prices have been literally talked up to hyper-inflated levels by a small number of interested parties – offers no real investment opportunities. I believe there is moral dubiousness in treating residential property as an investment and not as a place to live, but I will leave that for another day.

Back to the overseas property people... in the absence of any real regulation of this burgeoning marketplace, the chances of encountering a cowboy are far higher than normal. Some of these companies have scant knowledge of the property law in the countries they are 'selling' - preferring to leave that to local legal experts. Having been accosted by staff from these 'overseas property' companies at shopping centres and other exhibitions, I gleaned that quite a few of them are staffed by people who possess no more than a rudimentary 'tourist' knowledge of the language of those countries they deal with. So caveat emptor! You have been warned.

In reality the “Hey Big Spender” exhibition and its vulgar moniker is but the tip of the iceberg. It is just another facet of the self-congratulatory, self-obsessed, morally vacuous, arrogant, uncaring, “me fein” country that Ireland has become since taxpayers in other EU countries and various international corporations decided to fund the so-called Celtic Tiger.

There is a certain irony in this overseas property boom that should not be lost on those who remember how Ireland was twenty years ago. I can remember families complaining bitterly in the media that the Germans were buying up so much property in the west of Ireland that people had to move away from the area they were born in to find affordable housing. Now that self-same media is busy urging us to price the Poles, Bulgarians, Romanians and assorted others out of their own property markets – and maybe even marketing these overseas properties to people who would probably object strongly to the Bulgarians and Romanians having the freedom to come here to live.

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